Ryan McGinley Copyright Lawsuit Dismissed

That far-fetched copyright lawsuit against Ryan McGinley and his alleged biting of 150 of photos from photog Janine Gordon has been dismissed as expected, as per the judge’s decision (PDF) — “the dictates of good eyes and common sense lead inexorably to the conclusion that there is no substantial similarity between Plaintiff’s works and the allegedly infringing compositions of McGinley.” Oh, and it’s worth a read. Proceed to juicy bits.

The court declined “to conduct an exhaustive inventory of the 150 allegedly infringing images,” 39 of which were screen-grabs of McGinley’s commercial video work and some were “flipped” and “superimposed with color-coded outlines” to exaggerate potential similarities.

Finally, almost triumphantly, the document addresses Gordon’s conviction that McGinley ripped off “ideas,” which we called derivative in July and the judge agreed:

…The protected “conception” is not the idea of an interracial kiss, but the artist’s “originality in the rendition, timing, and creation of the subject – for that is what copyright protects in photography.”